My 'Einstein' son attemped to drive my 1999 Taurus after a heater hose blew the 15 miles from school to home. Needless to say he did not make it. My worst fear is reality, fixed the hose, refilled with coolant, exhaust bubbling through coolant, engine mis-firing, motor oil has gotten 'milky',etc.

Question, car has over 270,000mi, two tranny replacements,front and back suspension replaced, nearly all sensors replaced about 3 yr ago. Is finding a replacement motor worthwile? Or, should I continue to kick my son in the rear for a few more day's then look for something else?

 

Depends on how cheap you can get a new engine and get it installed. Could just be a head gasket on the current engine, but with 270,000 miles, probably not worth fixing.

 

Kids,, Ours liked to bend'm up

Was always road conditions, other cars forcing the damage... Bla bla bla.. He didn't like walk'n much either after we witnessed him put'n down rubber through an intersection right in front of us!

For me, it might depend on how clean the 2K was, how many miles on/since the reman. trans, and doing the work myself so not to have to pay shop labor rate. And if I were to go that route, the donor engine would have to be witness run in the car before removal.. I've seen too many engine exchanges go sour with a 'was running great before' replacement and from the reputable dismantlers even when they were comped. I always like to get a donor from lower mileage wrecks over cars just being parted. Usually it meant either the trans was gone, or the engine had issues...

 

What usually helped in situations like this was to have the perpetrator open the engine and view his accomplishment. You never know he might learn something and like what he is learning. Side benefit might be to see just how bad the job is. If it can be repaired without toooo much cost/trouble give him the car and watch and the reaction.
What do you think?

 

Great points by Hayapower and hanky. I think Hanky's idea is better than yours: keep kicking son's rear end. After all your toes might hurt after awhile.

Considering that these cars are rather inexpensive on the used market I would go for a replacement car and use the old one for "educational purposes" and parting out. That assumes you have space for the vehicles.